Dr. Bradford Reaves
CrossWay Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
Today we are going to talk about the next prophetic event that will happen imminently. I want to bring full understanding to this important doctrine as a pastor and scholar who has spend many hours studying Scripture surrounding this event. I can say without hesitation after looking at the entirety of the Bible, and the Scriptures associated with the event that has come to be known as the Rapture, is that this is a scriptural and prophetic event that we will likely witness in our lifetime; probably even in the very near future.
The war in Israel is not a political event. It is not merely a historical event. I would dare say that the war in Israel is definitely a spiritual event, but most assuredly, I say to you today that the war in Israel is a prophetic event. The reason I can say this is because Israel is God’s prophetic time clock. All events concerning the first coming of Christ and, contemporarily, the second coming of Christ surround the nation of Israel - not the church. That is a biblical stance, written into the pages of Scripture of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
If you look at all the Scripture. How God prepares his people for impending judgment and the outpouring of his wrath, if you look at the words of Jesus, the words of the Apostles, the words of the earth church fathers, and the continual events of our day, there is no other conclusion that one can reach except that there will come a point when the Church - meaning the faithful saints of Christ - will be delivered from the wrath to come or the 7-Year Tribulation. This is not some secret of the Bible. It is not something hidden in the text. It is not something ‘new’ that someone cleverly tried to impose on Scripture. It is a central theme of the Bible and the greatest hope to believers.
Quite simply, the Rapture is the translation of all believers present on earth to heaven prior to the outpouring of God’s wrath that will occur during a terrible and horrific time known as the 7-year tribulation or as the Old Testament prophets called it - the Great Day of the Lord. What I want to do with you today is give you a foundation for the doctrine, the Scriptural basis of the events, the signs of its imminency, and the hope you can leave here today concerning the event. Let’s look at some Scripture:
New Testament Scriptures of the Rapture
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1–3)
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30–31)
I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” (Luke 17:34–36)
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51–53)
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18)
The Rapture and The Second Coming
First we know that as the second coming of Jesus draws closer the earth will see increase in wickedness, evil and distress. The Rapture is not a separate event of the Second Coming but a part of Jesus’ Second Coming; it is the first phase, where the believers are removed and taken to the wedding supper.
And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12)
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. (Luke 17:26)
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1–3)
The reason for such a powerful increase in the lawlessness and evil in the Tribulation period is the removal of the Spirit-filled Church, which Paul calls the restrainer
“And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 NKJV)
Again Paul is referring to the last days. But before the Antichrist can be revealed, the One who is presently retraining him from coming is removed.
Many see this as the Holy Spirit, because only God can restrain lawlessness. But the Holy Spirit is still around during the time of the Great Tribulation leading people to Jesus, those known as the Tribulation saints. So the Holy Spirit isn’t removed.
Who then is the restrainer? Paul describes the restrainer as both a “what,” and a “who.” Notice the wording, “you know what is restraining” and “He who now restrains.”
The “who” is the Holy Spirit, the “what” is the vehicle of grace the Holy Spirit works through, which would be the church.
Further, look at what Jesus said to Peter. “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 NKJV)
Since the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, and since it says that the Antichrist will make war with the saints and overcome them (Revelation 13:7), then the church must be removed for Satan to bring the Antichrist on the scene
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Revelation 8:1)
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. (Revelation 16:17–19)
This is all part of period of time known as the 7 Year Tribulation. It is also called the 70th week of Daniel, the Great Day of the Lord, and the time of Jacob’s trouble. It is a designated period of time when the age of grace ends for all people and the wrath of the Lord is poured out on all the earth. It is also a time ruled by a satanically empowered world leader known as the antichrist or the man of lawlessness. It is quite literally the last 7 years of the earth prior to the return of Jesus Christ as King. When he returns he will defeat Satan and all of his followers and ascend his throne in Jerusalem.
The Bible commands us to not be troubled - but believe in God.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1–3)
Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:18 ESV)
Encourage with what? These things that are about to take place....
We are too: Believe (trust, put our faith) in God
Jesus preparing a place for us. He will come and take us there.
Now, the word “Rapture” doesn’t occur in the English Bible. The word actually comes from the Latin translation known as the “Latin Vulgate” that was written in the early 5th century, and found in Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica.
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17 NKJV emphasis mine)
The Latin word for “caught up,” is “rapio.” In the Greek it’s “harpazo,” which means “To steal, carry off, or snatch away by force with no resistance offered.”
Paul calls this event a mystery. The word means something that cannot be explained through any rational means, that is, with human intellect. Therefore it can only be understood through God’d revelation too us. The mystery is that not every believer will die, and that there will be some that will be alive when it, the Rapture, occurs.
Paul also explains that the rapture will take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. In other words the time it takes to blink. Now, it only takes 1/10th of a second to blink, therefore, in 1/10th of a second every believer, both dead and alive, will be resurrected.
While there are a couple of interesting foreshadows of this event, the one that grabs most people’s attention is that of Enoch.
“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24 NKJV)
The writer of Hebrews gives us this commentary saying, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him;’ for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5 NKJV)
Everyone else in the Genesis genealogy died, but not Enoch. Instead he was raptured, that is, he was still alive when God took him to heaven.
The Rapture is actually an event that is agreed upon by most Christian theologians; it’s the timing where disagreement comes in. However, when it does occur, the magnitude will be enormous.
The various views are as follows:
• Pre-Tribulation – The Rapture will occur prior to the Great Tribulation and can happen at any time.
• Pre-Wrath – The Rapture will occur prior to God’s wrath being poured out. This will happen prior to the Trumpet Judgments, because they feel that the seal judgments, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, are humanity’s wrath against itself, and not God’s wrath.
• Mid-Tribulation – The Rapture will happen halfway through the Great Tribulation. This is seen in how the book Revelation separates the Tribulation into two halves using the wording “time, times, and half a time,” or “42 months,” and “1260 days” (Revelation 12:14; 12:6; 11:2)
• Post-Tribulation – The Rapture will happen at the very end of the Tribulation. Here the church is delivered through, and not from, the Tribulation.
The Pre-tribulation rapture is the only means of the rapture that is biblically consistent with the Scriptures we has studied thus far and other Old Testament references. Let me give you one specific reference that is consistent with the Pre-tribulation rapture.
Old Testament Warning for Preparation of Escape
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. (Zephaniah 2:3)
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5)
Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. (Isaiah 26:20–21)
Old Testament Examples & Typologies
· God’s warning and preparation to the righteous.
· Their trust and faith in God
· The world’s unbelieving response (and even mocking)
· The Sheltering from
· The restoration and elevation
1. Noah & the Flood (Genesis 6:9-22, Matt 24:37-39)
And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. (Genesis 7:16)
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. (Revelation 3:7)
2. Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 41-50)
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. (Genesis 41:25)
That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.” (Genesis 41:36)
3. Lot Escapes Sodom (Gen 19:1-29)
As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” (Genesis 19:15)
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. (Genesis 19:29)
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:28–30)
if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, (2 Peter 2:6–9)
4. The Passover
?Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. (Exodus 12:22–23)
5. Rahab & the Spies
But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. (Joshua 6:22–24)
The Church is Appointed Deliverance
If the Tribulation, even the first half, preceded the Rapture, we would be under the wrath of God
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
The church is promised to escape WRATH (Rom 5:9; 1 Thess 1:9-10; 5:9)
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:9)
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10)
We therefore cannot enter the tribulation which is appointed as "the great day of His wrath" (Rev 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:10,19; 15:1,7;16:1,19; 19:15).
The Hope that is Before You
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, (v)
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ()Ephesians 4:4)
